Steam
by Cassodembreankia
Summary: Serenity lands on a planet called Janus, and instantly six of the nine crew-members get lost in the dense atmosphere. Unable to find their way back to Serenity, will they find their way back to the love in their hearts? (One-Shot!)


**Author's Note: So, I wanted to see if I could write a so-called "Steamy" romance... and keep it rated PG/K+. Sorry it jumps around a lot.**

**My best friend got me into Firefly a month ago (sort of, she recommended it ages ago and I started watching it a month ago), and it took me a week to finish ('cause school and homework and family stuff got in the way, people who will instantly be muttering to their screens "Well I finished it in ten hours and fifty-seven minutes!") and to me, this story was one that I felt I needed to write because it was just so dang cute and fluffy. I normally don't do really fluffy 'cause it's just not my style, but this idea came to me several days ago and I just needed to do it. It's also helping me get over some bad writer's block I've been suffering from.**

**Now, without further ado, I hope you enjoy the story! (This completely disregards the _Serenity _movie - like it never happened.) (The four different things are happening at [roughly] the same time.)**

* * *

The planet _Serenity_ landed on - Janus - was covered with hot springs. They threw off buckets and buckets of steam, clouding the atmosphere, making it difficult to see and breathe.

Mal wasn't _entirely_ sure how he got stuck blundering through the fog with _Inara_, but there they were; her holding onto his coat sleeve and both of them peering through the surrounding mists. "I knew I should have stayed on _Serenity_," Inara muttered - mostly to herself. Mal bit back a sarcastic retort in favor of not falling into a hot spring that appeared out of nowhere and charring his skin off.

* * *

Wash was gripping Zoe's left hand while her right was on her gun. She prowled through the landscape carefully, her husband stumbling slightly behind her. "How did we end up _here?_" Wash mumbled irritably. Zoe rolled her eyes and tugged her boot out of a bog, crinkling her nose.

"Jobs can be a little bizarre the farther away you get from the Core," she finally replied, freeing her foot.

* * *

Simon sat Kaylee down on a boulder and knelt. With gentle hands he rolled up her pant leg and examined the blood. "Yup. Infected. We've got to get back to _Serenity_ so I can treat this," he said. Kaylee nodded bravely and held her hands out for him. He helped her to her feet and wrapped one arm around her waist. Hers went over his shoulders. Together they went staggering through the steam back in the general direction of where they thought the ship was. Kaylee's face was scrunched in pain, but she was doing her utmost to not show Simon how much it hurt. She thought of herself as tough enough, and now was the time to prove it. She also didn't want to scare him. In Jayne's words "Pain was scary."

* * *

Speaking of Jayne, he, River, and Shepherd Book were left behind on _Serenity_ to watch over the ship until the others returned. "I think Mal's lost," Jayne remarked, looking at the signals coming from the tracking devices in the comms. "We should probably guide him back here."

"There's too much steam," River said distractedly, idly handling one of Wash's dinosaur toys. "The fog would interfere with our instruments and any message would ultimately be lost. All they'd hear would be static. Perhaps you could go outside and shout for him."

Book grinned at the appalled look on Jayne's face. "I'm in charge here little River - " he started to protest.

"And I can kill you with my brain," she retorted without any emotion in her voice whatsoever.

"Yeah, you've told me that at least six dozen times since we left Ariel," he snapped irkedly.

"Do you know why this planet is called Janus?" she asked. Shepherd Book - who knew the reason - leaned against the door frame to listen. Jayne looked confused. He shook his head. "In the mythology of the Roman society on Earth-That-Was, there was a god called Janus. He was the god of doorways - choices. He had two faces. He always offered warriors a choice in their legends."

"So what does that have to do with this hunk of rock?" Jayne demanded, obviously not understanding what young River Tam was getting at.

"This whole planet is a choice, Jayne," she said serenely. "Die in the mist or fight your way home. They say that those who get home on this planet emerge from it enlightened."

"I don't get it," Jayne said decisively.

"You could put that on a T-shirt," River commented, twisting the dinosaur toy upside down to examine the imprint of the brand that made it in the plastic/rubber of its belly.

Jayne jammed his hat onto his head indignantly, shooting River a glare. "Are you calling me stupid?"

"And there's the back of the T-shirt," she murmured. Jayne leapt to his feet and stormed out of the room. Shepherd Book couldn't help but smirk as he turned and left River alone on the bridge. She sat all by herself, looking over the instruments and trying to send out psychic messages to the others. Trying to guide her family home.

* * *

"Mal, wait," Inara pleaded, her hand clinging to his sleeve tighter. The captain stopped, rolled his eyes irritably, and turned and faced her.

"What?" he snapped. "We have to get back to _Serenity._ Heaven knows what Jayne's been gettin' up to since we left."

"I know. But... there's... something I need to talk to you about."

"Are we going to be having another conversation about you leavin'? 'Cause that will be the ninth one in four days. So I suggest you get on with it once we get off this stupid hunk of rock."

"No. That's not what I was going to talk to you about," Inara said. "But I'm a little shocked you're counting."

"Well, I do weird things," Mal remarked dismissively.

Inara's hand snaked up his arm and rested where his shoulder met his neck. Confused and a bit shocked, he stopped moving completely. "This is for everything you've ever done for me," she murmured. Her other hand cradled his neck and drew him down towards her, slowly, very slowly.

Their lips met. And rain started pounding.

* * *

"Zoe, what happens if we can't find our way back to _Serenity?_" Wash asked, a note of fear in his voice.

"I don't even want to think about that dear," Zoe replied honestly. "But we just have to hope that we _do_ make it back."

"But... if we don't," her husband reiterated.

"If we don't find our way home, I'm glad I'm lost in the steam out here with you," Zoe said. There was a small note of sentimentality in her usually steel-hard tone. Wash couldn't help but feel a little pleased. Sometimes Zoe surprised him.

"Come here you!" he exclaimed. He pulled on her hand until she was facing him.

A few raindrops fell in their hair, picking up more and more speed, as the Washburnes kissed.

* * *

Kaylee's good foot landed in a hole, sending both her and Simon tumbling to the ground. Instantly the both of them were covered in mud. Kaylee couldn't help but laugh at Simon's alarmed expression. He staggered to his feet, wiping mud off of his fancy vest and trousers indignantly. Kaylee was sniggering uncontrollably. "It's not funny!" Simon protested.

"On the contrary, it's _very_ funny," Kaylee corrected. "You look more... _normal, c_overed in mud. Not so uptight and proper."

"No, Kaylee, I look filthy and gross," Simon retorted irritably.

"That tone sounded like the one the captain uses when he's cross," Kaylee commented. "Or trying to get me to stop being cheerful."

"Yeah, but that's never going to happen."

The young mechanic beamed. "Nope."

"Let me look at your leg," Simon insisted. "If it got too exposed to the mud, it'll start getting even more infected. We need to get moving." He looked at the wound again. "Yeah. We need to find _Serenity._"

"Not just yet!" Kaylee protested. "Can't we rest for two minutes?"

Simon sighed and sat down. "I really don't want to be doing this, Kaylee. We need to get back so I can treat your - "

He was cut off by the girl grabbing the lapels of his vest and crushing his face to hers. He wanted to flail and shove her off, but he was caught so off guard - and she was a lot stronger than he thought she was - that he complete froze before relaxing into the kiss. Neither of them paid any attention to the rain as it started to fall.

* * *

River paced the cockpit irritably. She could feel the chemicals the crew's brains were releasing increase, but she had no clue why. All of their locations were literally within one hundred feet of the front of the ship, but the fog and the steam was so dense she could go right outside the door to the cargo bay and end up lost. She knew the others were receiving her psychic messages, but they either weren't paying attention to them or didn't know how to listen to them. In the case of the pilot, she guessed it was the latter. In the case of the captain, it was more likely the former.

Book and Jayne were off doing *_shànliáng_ knows what, *_shànliáng_ knows where, but River couldn't exactly bring herself to care. Her brother was out in that steam, and may have been hurt. The fog either needed to clear soon so they could make it back, or the crew needed to start listening to her telepathic instructions.

She was just getting really frustrated when the first raindrop hit the cockpit window. She sighed with relief. If it did anything, the rain would cause the steamy atmo to either get worse, or clear completely. River was hoping for the latter. She probably wouldn't admit it out loud, but she was a little scared for Simon.

Slowly, the drops became more frequent until she could hear them _plunk_ing against the hull. She rushed past the pilot and co-pilot's chairs so she could peer out the window better.

What she saw at first confused her, very badly.

* * *

Mal and Inara, Zoe and Wash, and Simon and Kaylee, were all kissing like there was no tomorrow.

* * *

Jayne burst out of the cargo door with a camera. Not entirely sure how they all managed to fit into one frame, bein' so far away an' all, he took the picture anyway. Glancing up, he could see River's blank face slowly dawn the edges of a smile.

* * *

**End Note: *Google Translate said that means "goodness" in traditional Chinese but if I did it wrong, blame Google Translate, 'cause I don't speak Chinese. The only language I'm learning now is American Sign Language.**

**I really hoped you guys enjoyed this, because I had a hoot writing it. I know some of the characters were probably a little OOC (out-of-character for those of you who don't know because it took me ages to figure out what that meant), but I still thought it was funny. And cute.**

**~Cass**


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